7797/A pym particle pitch

A pym particle pitch
Date of Scene:	09 June 2019
Location:	Janet Pym's office, JVD Fashion House Corporate HQ, New York
Synopsis:	Nadia fills Janet in on where she's been and who she's talked to.
Cast of Characters:	Wasp (van Dyne), Wasp (Pym)
Tinyplot:	City Fall

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Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
JVD Fashion House maintains a corporate office. It's a large building right on the edge of the Industrial Park and the Clothing Center, accessible by truck and pedestrian foot traffic. It's an older building that's been refurbished in recent years, an interesting contrast of old New York brickfront and modern glass stylized design.

Nadia's apparently been added to the whitelist by building security; she finds little trouble being escorted up the five-story elevator to Janet's offices on the top-floor, an expansion on the building that is full of lots of windows and open-air concepts. Once past the secretary's desk, large doors open to Janet's personal office. While the rest of the building is largely drywall and flourescents, Janet's office sports endless skylights and lots of twelve-foot windows. It's a strange contrast of colors, too. On the right, Janet's office is all white. White furniture, white rugs, white desk. Cooler blues and some delicate golds are allowed here and there but it's very nearly monochromatic in its ouvre. Elegant and simple. This is where Nadia finds Janet, sitting at her desk with a pencil in hand and going over some reports. She glances up when the girl enters and a smile flashes across her face. "Nadia! Security said you were coming up. C'mon in," she says, waving. THe rest of the office is hidden behind a massive floor-to-ceilign curtain that hangs from invisible tracks overhead. "You want a drink or something? I can have tea brought up if that's more your speed," she offers.

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
It might not have been a huge shock for Janet to have heard from Nadia Pym again, they are both size changing superheroes with insect style wings after all, but Janet may not have been expecting the Red Room runaway to send a request tp van Dyne industries requesting the chance to pitch a research project. A project that aims to 'Revolutionize the field of physics and create a ground breaking paradigm shift in how the world approaches the very concept of time itself'.

It certainly seems like someone might have found a template form for making a business pitch online.

Nadia herself is dressed in her best outfit. A black jacket and white shirt, combined with a slightly poofy & frilly skirt. With black tights and sensible shoes to finish off the ensemble. She's also got a little gadget in one hand that looks a bit like someone shrunk a projector and bolted it into a shop bought drone. Probably because that's exactly what Nadia did earlier in the day.

"A drink?" She asks, waryily. "I better not. I need to stay focused and..." And she half expects Janet to hand her alcohol again. "And stuff. Official scientist pitch after all! Oh and I guess there is a little matter I was asked to pass on to an Avenger... Which do you want first? I would have just told you know who but... Well I don't want him to worry that I'm out crime fighting when I really haven't been."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet eyes Nadia's attire with a flickering read. The language of fashion is something Janet speaks with great eloquence and even someone not versed in haute culture can still make a statement with their dress. Nadia: formal, a litte cute but not 'sexy', practical shoes. Definitely a scientist making a pitch for funding, hoping that their work speaks for itself.

"Well, I'm having coffee, if nothing else. C'mon, sit. Let's get the Avengers stuff out of the way," Janet remarks. She pulls a phone from a hidden pocket in her dress. She's in a short-sleeved violet blouse, with bunching around the shoulders, and a high-waisted black pencil skirt that starts just below her ribs with a modest knee-length hemline. Four-inch patent-leather pumps kick the outfit out of 'business causal' mode.

There's a buzzing from the walls as Janet activates some kind of privacy obstruction to block out auditory bugs. Can't be too careful where this sort of thing is concerned. "What's up? Is this coming down from official channels or just a friend in a high place?"

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
"I think it's a problem with official channels," Nadia says tentatively, throwing the projector gadget into the air and letting it hang there. Little fans whirring with the strain. "I was going round the museums in New York and I got a touch lost. And I just happened to come past a bar that Ghost Spider was storming into, so I peeked inside and long story short a mystery shadow started helping her fight some sort of gang. They both seemed to think it was important the Avengers knew that something, presumably a crime group of some sort, called 'The Foot' has been bribing police officers in the city to let criminals off without charge. Providing they buy some sort of gold coin token."

She shrugs, then pulls out a folded piece of paper covered in very neat handwriting which she duly hands over to Janet. "I don't know if the coin is magical. What the Shadow is or anything along those lines. But I /did/ list full descriptions of all the thugs, the location and I'm ninety five percent certain I know which police station they came from."

The papers have, essentially, an after action report like you'd expect follow a covert spy operation. Every name mentioned, distinctive features, the badge numbers of the officers who responded to the incident. Just about everything needed to do a follow up short of the information you'd need to obtain by breaking into the police station in question.

"I can't rule out the possibilty that the mystery Shadow entity isn't a bad guy planning a trap. But.. it seemed more like two heroes following similar leads."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet examines the paper in her hands, sitting quietly for a few moments and letting Nadia explain. When the girl finishes talking, Janet glances up and nods. She's paying attention. The fashionista looks back down at the paper in her hand, fretting her lip.

"This is good work," she concludes, finally. "Really, solid information. I'm just ... not sure what the Avengers can do about it," she concludes. "Rather, that you *want* us to do. Corrupt cops isn't really in our baliwick. There are corrupt cops all over America. Even if a whole department is on the take, this is something Internal Affairs should be handling. Even a prosecuting attorney," she explains. "Why do you want us to look into it?" She's not being argumentative-- her tone is simply asking for more clarification.

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
"The implication, which I would have looked into personally but that would have required me to break into some police stations, was it was much wider spread than one or two stations. And that some significant group was behind it. Perhaps with magic, because I can't really see why you would use gold coins otherwise? Perhaps a status symbol? Anyway that might be why they wanted the Avengers to be made aware.." Nadia frowns, then shrugs. "I'm not really sure what they expected you to do. We didn't have a lot of time to discuss the request before the police arrived and I'm not exactly a trained superhero myself. Covert operations or science, da."

"And I do know that the criminals involved seemed very very sure that when the police arrived it'd be us getting arrested not them." She hmmms. "Given my current immigration situation I did not wish to be deported so I shrunk myself down to watch from a safe vantage point. Which I suppose was not exactly brave of me, given I did nothing wrong, but I was technically a minor in a bar so..."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"Yeah, probably best to avoid the cops," Janet agrees. "I mean, I'm sure you've got some special consideration 'cause of your knowledge. It's an Operation: Paperclip situation. You're more valuable than most. Just, uh, try to avoid getting caught committing any major crimes. Underage drinking's a misdemeanour in this state, and honestly they're probably just going to fine you instead of charge you with a crime."

She examines the paper then rises and moves to slip it into a folio case near her desk. It's locked, with something considerably more robust than a three-cylinder privacy latch. "I'll make sure this gets into the proper channels. Dr. Strange is probably the go-to if it's magical. Failing that, we'll hand it off to the Attorney General's office. Cut right through the red tape and make sure that IA doesn't go after the wrong people."

She moves back to her seat opposite Nadia and seats herself again. "So that's the one thing. What was the other?" she prompts with a smile for the girl.

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
"I wasn't drinking," Nadia assures, pouting slightly at the assumption she was doing something wrong when she really was just lost on the way to the Guggenheim. "I just followed a superhero through a door and... maybe punched someone who was quite clearly a gang boss a few times."

And then of course the other matter comes up. Instantly bringing a smile to her face and then breaking into excited scientist mode "Yes lets! So I had an idea a few weeks ago. I was trying a pretzel for the first time, talking to a nice lady I met on the street, and the topic of not having enough hours in the day came up..." She snaps her fingers and the floating doohicky begins projecting schematics onto the wall. "Then it hit me this was a problem I could /fix/."

She begins pointing at bits of the schematics with a laser pointer. "By shrinking a science facility down to a near quantum state I should, in theory, be able to create a lab that is subjectively experiencing time itself at a different rate. Days would pass inside while mere moments would happen outside. You could shrink a room full of cheap computers, set them solving any problem you like, and have them exist for a thousand years solving the problem. Them come back from lunch, bring it back to normal size, then check your results."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet stares blankly at the wall display. It might as well be in Chinese for the fashionista. "I, uh... that's very interesting," Janet says. She's stalling for time, trying to make heads or tails of it.

"I mean, um, if the theory holds. I have no idea how it'd work. I'm an MFA graduate, not a physicist," she reminds Nadia. "I know a bit about submolecular compression because of the Pym Particles," she allows. "But beyond that you're getting way outside my pay grade. Is this something you can discuss with To-oh, no, bad idea. Nevermind." She waves that thought off before even completing it. "We don't need a mad scientist getting in on this. Vision, maybe? He's pretty smart, and very trustworthy," she suggests as an alternative.

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
"I thought I'd best ask you first because you said something about patents," Nadia points out earnestly. Leaving out that Janet was muttering at the time and probably didn't intend her to have heard it at all. Of course the Red Room did teach a specific class on overhearing things people don't want you to hear so.. "And I don't want to just ask my Dad because... Well I want people to respect my work because it's come from me. Not just assume I'm there 'helping' him do research or talking on his behalf."

"There was also the funding issue. I'm not sure my allowance would cover the cost of what I am tentatively calling Pym quantum tethering. As I'd need to keep a significant amount of space compressed at the molecular level beyond what is typically considered 'safe' for organic life." She tilts her head. "I /could/ run it past Vision. If you don't think I'd be bothering him? I don't want to keep turning up at the Avengers mansion distracting people all the time.. As this isn't really superhero stuff. Although I guess you can use it as a form of super prison. If you /really/ wanted to keep something trapped safely away. That would be very cruel though. As even a custodial prison sentence would last a subjective eternity and cause severe mental health issues in the prisoner."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet just stares blankly at Nadia. The girls' mental processes are no more flighty than Janet's, but the realization of so many concepts-- from challenge to solution-- makes it a dizzying amount of work to keep up with.

"I think... we're avoiding super-prisons," Janet says carefully. "That's a little beyond our mandate. I can get you in touch with Vision easily enough, though. He's nice, and really does enjoy theoretical problem solving. He's terribly pragmatic though, so be prepared to defend yourself against obvious solutions to complex problems."

She frets her cheek, thinking. "I'm not ... I have some influence on the board, obviously. I'd need to see a cost-benefit analysis. Full projections for rate of return for five or ten years, analysis of applications, solicitations for private sector use. That sort of thing. If it shows it's profitable, we can make a more serious run at pitching funding to the board."

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
Nadia Pym blinks a few times. "Ways to make money? Oh. I haven't really concentrated on anything so trivial as profits... The primary goal was to give myself more time to think. But really you can do /anything/ with the time. You could shrink a room full of freshly planted seeds down and bring back a room filled with fully grown crops. Crack codes that would normally take until the end of the universe to break. Honestly if I can make it work as I'm hoping it'll work then it'd probably end the concept of money entirely."

Of course it's quite a big if. And Janet probably has enough of a grasp on Pym particle technology to know shrinking anything down that much has risks. Not least of which is the potential for whatever you shrink to near quantum size to be stuck somewhere or no-where. Possibly forever.

"But.. If you think it'd be best to have someone else give input before I make a formal pitch that would be fine with me. I've always wanted to meet a sentient machine entity. Robotics and AI are fields I've been meaning to dabble in when I've got a moment or two." She nods towards the drone gadget. "I've been dabbling in mechanical engineering this week. It's still a little crude right now but for a first attempt it's not bad. Even if I did cheat by shrinking a larger machine down rather than just building something hand sized to start with."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"I... that's not exactly cost-effective," Janet reminds Nadia. "Not unless you've got some very specialized equipment. It's one thing to store goods passively, I mean, I keep most of my clothing in a suspension field. But I can keep those in a static environment. Even then the energy cost is kind of ridiculous. When you start thinking about the requirements for moving plants, nutrients, water, energy, in and out of a tiny hydroponics bay, it... well, that seems kind of counter-productive. If you spend more to make something than you can sell it for, you're operating at a loss from day one. Capitalism thrives on profit margins. You have to show the board that what you're doing is a sound scientific investment. I've had to axe a few really cool projects over the years because they had zero financial viability. Making cookies in thirty seconds is a neat idea but when you have to *sell* those cookies for ten bucks each, you're kind of missing the point. Even science has to be profitable."

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
"Oh you don't ship things to the facility. You shrink the whole lot at once. Actually now that I think about it you could also just cover the outside of a hydroponics bay in solar panels, shrink it and revert to regular size in orbit. Which doesn't really give you the extra time you'd need.. but you'd still be able to feed potentially the entire population of Earth and end world hunger..." Nadia muses, almost to herself rather than specifically talking to Janet. "The small scale electronics lab is almost certainly the simplest in terms of logistics. Nothing needed in the pods but the power supply, I had been thinking of nuclear power for each pod and.. well they'd be fairly substantial. The radioactive material is another reason I didn't think I could do it by myself. I'm probably on enough watchlists that I can't buy the materials... But anyway building full of computers, set them running programs to check for potential new drugs, leave for a thousand years. Revert to normal size and you've got leads on cures to every disease. /That/ is probably financially viable, no?"

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"Maybe," Janet allows. "If it works, and can be miniaturized successfully, and works reliably, etc. etc. etc. You're also looking at a thousand years of wear-and-tear. I can't even keep my networks here from staying online for more than a week at a time. You're talking about trying to make a supercomputer be wholly self-contained and self-maintaining. That's a bigger ask than coming up for a cure for cancer."

She gets to her feet. "But, I'm a businesswoman, not a scientist. You show me that your math holds up, I'll pitch it to the board with you. That's all I can offer," she says. It's still quite an offer. Janet's word carries quite a bit of weight as a majority shareholder.

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
"Oh there would be some wear and tear I'm sure. But so long as the storage medium has enough failsafes... I'd probably go with a single write drive that etches into say... some sort of synthetic diamond. That way even if every machine is dead by the end you have all the results. It /would/ make each pod functionally single use but the rewards would almost certainly be worth it." Nadia beams a smile. "And really none of the computer hardware required inside the pod has to be expensive. That's the beauty of the idea. Even the worst computer in the world can produce useful results if you give it enough time."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet just shakes her head, but it's with a grin. Nadia's clearly irrepressible, and she's got that attitude that suggests no problem can be derailed.

"God. You sound /just/ like Hank," she says with a dry tone of voice. It's a little whimiscal, a little sad and resentful. But directed at old memories, not Nadia. "Once he got his teeth in an idea, that was it. Nothing could stop him. He was halfway to Aberdeen to hijack a military tank until we finally convinced him that miniaturizing warheads wasn't a cost effective action."

Her eyes widen. "Oh, shit," she mumbles, covering her mouth. "I'm not trying to give you any ideas here. Do *not* steal-- OR BORROW-- any tanks," she admonishes Nadia.

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
"Why would I want a /tank/?" Nadia wonders aloud, blinking a few times. Her mind clearly having taken her off elsewhere for a second "I was just thinking that the proof of concept for a rocket to launch a building sized hydroponics facility, shrunk for transport naturally, into orbit would also work as a micromissile net launcher for catching criminals with. I'd just need to mix up a suitable blend of solid rocket fuel...."

"But that's not really important right now. I'll find some time to look into /that/ plan later in the week." She frowns. "I have been /trying/ to live a normal life like the immigration people said I should. I even looked into the schools in the area but a lot of the college courses are teaching material I outgrew when I was nine so... I don't think it's going to work as an option. "

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"You don't need school, you need *school*," Janet explains earnestly. "The social side of it. Meeting other people your age. Socializing. Sneaking out after curfew, making out with people, learning what the funny memes are. I said a second ago, you're-- well you remind me of Hank. It's so easy to get wrapped up in the lab and forget about the rest of the world."

"I know a place up north, in Westchester. They're good people. Friends of mine. They've got a lot of experience dealing with metahumans, helping them integrate and adapt. You're a bit old for high school, but you'd make a good mentor for some of the younger ones."

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
"I don't think I'm really cut out to be... some sort of teacher," Nadia admits, shaking her head. "Especially not when I'm still actively being hunted by the Red Room. I'd be putting everyone else in danger and I'm not sure I'd be comfortable exposing anyone to that sort of risk."

"Besides I've spent plenty of time around people my own age it's just... they were all prisoners in the Science Class too. And I did sort of sneak out." She pulls a face. "I have no interest in kissing people though. Ew."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"Yeah, don't knock it until you try it," Janet advises Nadia with a grin. "You never know what your type is until you fall for 'em. And half the fun's figuring out what you want as you go."

She gets to her feet and sticks a hand out at Nadia. "Give me your best cost-lost estimates," she says. "I'll run the numbers and see where we come out. If it's got some philanthropic value, that might be a good bonus. And," she adds, gesturing at her desk. "I'll get that stuff over to Strange for you," she promises. "I'll probably drop it by his office today."

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
Nadia Pym snaps her fingers and the flying projector stops displaying schematics on the wall. "I /might/ take a look at this place in Westchester then, if you think it'd be worth a try. But I'm pretty adamant on the 'no kissing' rule." She replies solemnly. "As for the estimates I'll throw some numbers together. Materials, lab costs and things. Possible uses outside what I've initially outlined."

She shakes Janet's hand. "I'm sure that mystery Shadow entity will be pleased someone is investigating. Well, someone who might actually be able to do something about magic coins other than shrink them into another dimension for something else to deal with...."